Resources for Teachers at Nottingham City Schools

Nottingham Citizens and partners have been working together on a campaign for Better Books. The aim is to provide all Primary schools in the city with a set of culturally diverse reading books, so that all children’s identities are represented and celebrate. Each school has been provided with a set of new books and Nottingham Contemporary produced resources to encourage children and teachers to explore and use the books.

KS1-2: When puzzling postcards start arriving through your letterbox asking for help, only you can crack the code and figure out who the mystery writer is. Following a successful postcard drama format, New Perspectives' latest series, Fair Play, is a six-part postcard adventure for children aged 5-11yrs to enjoy together. Plus there's a QR code on each postcard to download with an activity sheet to explore a variety of creative challenges. 

Year 8+. Performed in school settings from spring term: A play about forging friendships when you’re a bit weird, the power of hope and the underestimated smartness of teens. Join Priya and Lou, who are armed with a backpack full of Pop-Tarts, a hunger to tackle climate change and the Shewolves manifesto, as they embark on a covert expedition into the wild. But when the wilderness closes in around them, how far will they go to protect their utopia? 

EYFS, KS1, KS2. Bring literacy to life with Lakeside Art’s storytelling sessions. Children are encouraged to join in the story using their imagination, props, and costumes. Using traditional oral storytelling skills pupils can explore themes, characters of traditional tales and myths. 

 KS2 and Year 7. An interactive performance/workshop for that can be experienced online or live in school.  Shhh...akespeare! excites intrigued minds to explore the characters, narrative and language of Britain's most celebrated writer and breaks down barriers to understanding and enjoying the Bard's brilliance.  

The Nottingham Poetry Festival  have four Bitesize 10-minute digital workshops for schools, created by local Nottinghamshire poets. The aim is to encourage children and young people to enjoy and create poetry. 

Primary and Secondary. First Story encourages and supports young people from all backgrounds to write creatively for pleasure and agency through a variety of events and programmes, including the First Story Year-Long Programme in schools. Download the PDF. Staff can also access dedicated creative writing CPD. 

Over the next nine months, Read On Nottingham will be working with schools and the wider community on this project, designed to support the wellbeing of children and young people and encourage them to read and write for pleasure. Activities include virtual author visits, creative writing competitions, book giveaways and more. To find out more and get involved please contact Michael Flynn – Connecting Stories Project Officer. 

Year 7 and 8. Secondary schools are still able to access this fun and effective catch up reading programme. Help students improve their reading, get them engaged and motivated and find their reason to read today. Skills  Academy costs £150. You can register an unlimited number of students on the programme throughout your 12-month subscription. When you sign up to the programme your school also receives a year's membership of the National Literacy Trust worth £100, which gives you access to all of their resources. 

Give your students the opportunity to see what it’s like behind the scenes of Nottingham Playhouse, to understand the various roles in theatre and see the teams at work. Led by a member of the Participation Team, students will hear from professionals about what they do day-to-day and how their role contributes towards the productions.  

Discounts on school bookings will be available for productions of ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Red Riding Hood’ and the pantomime shows from this Autumn. In Spring 2022.

‘Red Riding Hood’ will also be touring primary schools.. 

Schools Massive is a unique large-scale performance opportunity for Nottingham Schools to bring a class of up to 30 children to perform a Shakespeare scene on the main stage at Nottingham Playhouse. Each participating school will receive half a day of   teacher CPD at the Playhouse, led by expert practitioners, on helping young people understand and enjoy with Shakespeare. 

KS1-KS2. Sessions at 10.30-12.00 or 1.00-2.30. £5 per child
Using original artefacts see how stone age people hunted and fed themselves, made shelters and used their surroundings to sustain them. Have a go at your own piece of cave art and try out a bow saw. 

KS2-KS5. The National Justice Museum is offering blended learning workshops to schools unable to visit their site. Working with you, their expert facilitators will  deliver live, interactive learning into your classroom. Workshops are held via Zoom and Teams, and can even be delivered to students at home if your school has temporarily closed. 

Years 7-9. Developed in partnership with the National Justice Museum and Ben Kinsella Trust, this workshop has been proven to make a difference in changing attitudes to knife crime among the young. To find out more please contact NJM.     

Primary. The education loans service at Nottingham City Museums and Galleries, ‘Access Artefacts’, has a collection of over 11,000 museum objects, all suitable for handling and available to use in the classroom. The collection covers a wide range of themes including social history, archaeology, geology, industrial history, the natural sciences and many others.  

 Visit the Castle’s website to find out more about their great Learning Offer. You’ll find information about workshops led by an expert Explainer, leading your own group visit using the free resources, and also information about joining the Teacher’s Network. 

Primary. Area Bands are beginner orchestral groups open to young people in city schools that have a Whole Class Ensemble or In Harmony programme in collaboration with Nottingham Music Hub. These bands are ideal for pupils (usually Year 5) who have completed one year of instrumental learning.  Rehearsals are currently online, and they would love to welcome new members.  

KS1-KS2. Tuesdays and Wednesdays 2.30-3.00pm. On Microsoft Teams. Free.
Based on the 'Everything' project featuring songs by Russell Heppelwhite with words by Michael Rosen, Graham will be running FREE singing sessions. Rehearsals will lead to an end of term performance (in-person or online dependant on current restrictions). 

Noise Academy can deliver weekly DJ lessons at your school or setting delivered by professional tutors. Students will work towards recording their own DJ mixes whilst gaining AQA accreditations.

Ages: KS1-2 

In their work with schools Freedom Foundation have seen an increase in anxiety, issues with attendance, lack of resilience and aspiration, and the negative impact of social media on young people. Drop Down Days cover important PSHE outcomes including identifying emotions, how to recognise and deal with anxiety, positive and negative impact of online behaviour, how social media and technology use affects mental wellbeing and improving self-confidence. Please email or phone for more information 0115 993 2370.

A free guide for Education Professionals

Created for education professionals – supporting students in the midst and aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic – this free guide explores the relationship between learning and wellbeing. It considers the positive impact of creativity on children and young people’s ‘learning brains’ and how this can help to strengthen young people’s wellbeing and resilience. The guide also includes a series of practical and creative activities that educators can use in the classroom.

The Rainbow Library is a pioneering initiative to make more books for young readers that include LGBTQ+ identities and experiences. In summer 2023, to coincide with Pride celebrations, they’ll publish eight LGBTQ+ inclusive titles for young readers of all ages, including picture books, fiction and nonfiction, poetry and comics. These books will be developed through consultations with LGBTQ+ young people in Nottingham.  The aim is to get these books into every school and library in the UK and Ireland, supporting teachers and parents to provide rich, inclusive literature for their children. 

The Pythian Club (TPC) offer a programme of activities for educational settings (mainstream and alternative provision) to support their young people to become the best versions of themselves. Activities on offer include, sport, music, train safety and nature (climate change and sustainability) workshops, mentoring support and outreach support. The activities are designed to support young people’s physical and mental wellbeing as well as teaching them life skills. 

Use these sessions as the perfect start to your students’ day to create a positive mindset, inspired and ready for the day of learning ahead. Motivational Mornings has had positive feedback from both students and teachers about the impact it’s had on confidence and motivation levels. The sessions are delivered through Freedom Foundations Lockdown Learning Hub - a safe space for students to access. 

Ages 8+

The Creating Connections learning activities have been designed by NAE Associate Artists Shamila Chady and Elaine Winter for for use at home or school. Creating Connections is designed to help young people make positive connections with others their age where there is a feeling of disconnectedness due to cultural and other differences. 

Freedom Foundation deliver their 12 week Freedom Factory sessions in school time or as an after-school club. Using street dance and hip-hop, singing and song writing their 90 minute sessions with up to 30 children build confidence, resilience and aspiration, educate about the impact of social media on mental health and help children cope with common mental health problems such as anxiety, stress, depression and self-harm. 

Primary.  A series of free, short 5 to 15 minute videos and creative tasks which can be done in the classroom or at home. The MoveMore team also offer further support called ‘Beyond MoveMore’ which offers face to face sessions, virtual dance sessions and also CPD training for teachers.

NAE’s Associate Artists have been devising dynamic art activity ideas for young people and these are now accessible for teachers, parents and young people to download from the NAE website. 

KS2-KS3
An award winning, immersive, day-long teacher led/actor supported visit to Papplewick Pumping Station, meeting characters from the museum's industrial and social history. The visit is part of an education offer with extensive cross curricula resources investigating Papplewick’s local, social and engineering history, and its significance as a site for considering the management of global water resources today.  

 Ages 7-11
Do you work with children aged 7–14 to provide extracurricular learning opportunities? Sign up to Children’s University (CU) for free and join us as we recognise and celebrate extracurricular! Nottingham Trent CU is coordinated at Nottingham Trent University. Our goal is for participants to feel the joy of learning beyond the classroom whilst having an enriching experience building their cultural capital. Interested? 

Suitable for all Primary and Secondary Pupils
Pupils develop their own science investigations about the questions that matter to them, and work with scientists who specialise in that field to help work out the answers. This project is flexible for different ages, time-frames and the topics can be tailored to support curriculum teaching and extra-curricular activity in your school.. 

We're pleased to bring you the second edition of our free creative activities pack designed for Nottingham’s children and young people. It’s filled with over 40 engaging and fun activities created by 20 of Nottingham’s arts organisations. 

 Votes for Schools is an award-winning platform giving your students a voice on the issues that affect them the most, as well as supporting you to consistently embed SMSC, British Values and Prevent across your school. 

Did you know that Nottingham City Schools can travel for free to events or activities using Nottingham City Transport?  Applications are made through the Aquinas Foundation.at least one week in advance by email to to the Aquinas Foundation ncola@aquinaseducation.co.uk Tel: 0115 9244788 

Meet some of Wollaton’s magnificent trees, learn to identify them and take a closer look at their leaves, flowers, bark and seeds as well as the animal life that lives on and around them. Fun practical science activities including measuring trees, comparing leaf shapes and bark patterns and finding out what woodlice like. You’ll see species of trees whose ancestors lived at the same time as dinosaurs. 

Are the arts in trouble in English schools? Enrolments in secondary school arts subjects have fallen, and time devoted to the arts in primary schools is apparently greatly reduced. Creative teaching and learning also appears to be very patchy, with frequent media reports of schools using very ‘traditional’ methods in all subjects and for all topics. RAPS will shed light on how these issues appear in primary schools.

Creativity Exchange is an online community where school leaders, teachers and those working and interacting with schools can embed teaching for creativity and learn from each other.  Find an inspiring range of content in the Ideas Hub to support you to think about how to develop teaching for creativity across the curriculum - including practical ideas, blogs, case studies and book reviews. 

The Creative Schools Network was developed to support East Midlands schools to share ideas and expertise, profile excellent practice, and offer free training and workshops for those with responsibility for ensuring arts and culture thrive in educational settings. It's FREE to join.

Explore the extensive variety of resources available for art and design teachers.

Find out about NSEAD courses, conferences and training opportunities.

The Mighty Creative work with education providers and cultural organisations in the East Midlands to support and develop ways of tackling inequality of access to creative opportunities.

The Cultural Learning Alliance champions a right to arts and culture for every child. They act as a backbone organisation for the arts and cultural education sector, and provide the analysis, evidence, and arguments that Alliance members and their wider sectors can use.

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.